A known seat slide apparatus for a vehicle is disclosed in JP2008-247143A (which will be hereinafter referred to as Reference 1), for example. The seat slide apparatus disclosed in Reference 1 includes a lower rail fixed to a vehicle floor and an upper rail fixed to a vehicle seat and supported by the lower rail so as to be movable relative to the lower rail. The seat slide apparatus also includes a lock member that restricts a relative movement between the lower rail and the upper rail. The restriction of the relative movement between the lower rail and the upper rail by the lock member (i.e., a locked state of the lock member) is released, for example, by an operation of an operation handle by an occupant seated on the aforementioned vehicle seat.
In addition, the seat slide apparatus according to Reference 1 includes a memory piece slidably attached to the lower rail therealong in a longitudinal direction in an inner void formed by the lower rail and the upper rail so as to have a box shape. The memory piece engages with the lower rail, thereby being prevented from moving along the lower rail in the longitudinal direction. The seat slide apparatus further includes a holding member (receiving portion, memory plate) holding the memory piece. The holding member holds the memory piece so that the memory piece may move along with the upper rail, for example, at the time of a usual slide operation of a seat (seat cushion), that is, when the occupant seated on the vehicle seat operates the operation handle to release the restricted movement of the upper rail relative to the lower rail by the lock member to adjust a position of the vehicle seat. Alternatively, the holding member holds the memory piece so that the engagement between the memory piece and the lower rail may be maintained under a condition where the restricted movement of the upper rail relative to the lower rail is released by a forward tilting movement of a seat back. Accordingly, for example, at the time of a walk-in operation of the seat slide apparatus, that is, when the occupant gets in the vehicle to sit on a rear seat or leaves the seat to get out of the vehicle, the upper rail (seat) is allowed to slide in the longitudinal direction while the engagement between the memory piece and the lower rail is maintained by the holding member. After the occupant sits on the rear seat, the upper rail (seat) is moved to an initial position (memory position) in which the engagement between the memory piece and the lower rail may be released. Then, the seat back tilted forward is returned to a normal position (substantially upright position); thereafter, the upper rail is locked by the lock member at the initial position so as not to move relative to the lower rail.
In particular, any means to fix the holding member, which holds the memory piece so that the engagement between the memory piece and the lower rail may be maintained, to the upper rail is not described in Reference 1. It is required for the memory plate to be fixed to the upper rail before the lower rail and the upper rail are attached to each other. In the case of tightening the holding member to the upper rail, a fastening tool is inserted, for example, in a vertical direction that is different from a direction where the holding member extends (the extending direction of the holding member corresponds to the moving direction of the upper rail relative to the lower rail). Accordingly, assemblability of the holding member relative to the upper rail may decrease.
A need thus exists for a seat slide apparatus for a vehicle, which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.